Lines In Between
by sodesne ON HAITUS
Summary: It took him ten years to realize, beyond hating and beyond loving, Orihara Izaya respected Heiwajima Shizuo.  char death


Lines In Between

Summary: It took him ten years to realize, beyond hating and beyond loving, Orihara Izaya respected Heiwajima Shizuo. [char death]

* * *

Yagiri Namie thought she'd see something more.

She thought something more would happen than this normalcy. Her employer Orihara Izaya was on his computer, typing and giggling away. He would stop once and a while, either to think about something or spin in his chair, laughing madly.

She would remind him of his appointments, he would skip off with his fur-lined coat, and she would be left with an extraordinarily large amount of work. He even mentions going to Ikebukuro before coming back.

She thought there would at least be some hesitance to go back there. Maybe even nostalgia that would keep the human Orihara Izaya from Ikebukuro for a month or two. But the man just strut back into the city as though there was nothing to fear.

Technically, he had nothing to fear. Heiwajima Shizuo was dead.

* * *

It was strange, Izaya thought to himself. He actually thought he would be happy or sad, not complacent.

Heiwajima Shizuo had been a complication to all his plans, an unknown variable, but worth enough entertainment value to make the informant giggle. He knew of the conflicting and hypocritical feelings he had for the blonde bodyguard.

At one end, he hated the man to no ends. Always unpredictable and never did anything to plan. At the other, he loved the man to the ends of the world. Always unpredictable and never did anything to plan.

So he thought that one would win out when he went to the funeral. He thought he would jump on the coffin and laugh hysterically and shout out how he, Orihara Izaya, won. He thought he would fall to his knees and cry pitifully and whisper how he, Orihara Izaya, lost. What he didn't expect was the straight-faced acceptance of the blonde's body lying in a wooden box and relief that a shot to the head had meant a quick and painless death.

And he doesn't think anyone else expected that either.

Shinra had expected to drag his friend away to keep Izaya from humiliating the man in his death. Celty had expected the same. Tom didn't think Izaya would even show up. However, Kusaka did.

Quietly, unlike his loud and annoying brother, Kasuka spoke and it had been the first time Izaya heard the man's voice in person,

"You respect my brother. For that, I thank you."

At first, Izaya had balked at the idea. He, the master puppeteer of Ikebukuro, respected a violent protozoan creature? If Heiwajima Shizuo hadn't been dead, Izaya would have laughed, stabbed, and walked away, but the man was dead. And if not in life, the man deserved some peace in death.

* * *

It would take Orihara Izaya years later to realize the meaning behind Kasuka's words. And it was then that Namie got the reaction she wanted, not that she realized it. It had been too long that people just thought the informant just snapped.

It was never the loud violence of heavy objects being thrown that reminded Izaya of Shizuo. It wasn't the adrenaline chases that carved a deep impression into Izaya's mind. It was the serene picture of the blond bodyguard, talking, smiling, thinking, smoking, moments before he went into a rage.

It was the calm before the storm, the eerie peacefulness before violence came.

And in the year Heiwajima Shizuo's been dead, Izaya realized he never really progressed in awakening the head. Ikebukuro was at peace. Just as Shizuo wanted himself to be.

And in the five years the bodyguard's been dead, Izaya never referred to the dead man as 'Shizu-chan.'

And it took him ten years to realize, beyond hating and beyond loving, Orihara Izaya respected Heiwajima Shizuo.

* * *

A/N: Uh, first Durarara! story. I don't know whether people got my message? Uh, basically, Izaya throws 'hate' and 'love' around pretty loosely. He loves all humans and hates monsters. But there aren't many people he respects. So in a sense, respect is higher on the scale than love is, if that makes sense? Or maybe he's just OOC... D:

Haha, actually, the pairing Shizaya got me into Durarara! With all the beautiful doujinshi that was popping up with those two characters, I decided (after a year) to give Durarara! a chance. I watched the anime, fell for Izaya and Shizuo…hard.

So after a long debate with myself, I decided to do a stereotypical character death fic. I may do one where Izaya dies…well, I just wanted to see them be a little more stoic about their losses. Rather than deciding to go together or something like that…I don't know, I just wanted to write them together but not together. AHHHH, I can't explain myself very well!

But I hope you've enjoyed the little story nonetheless. : )


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